Introduction and Objectives
Welcome to this course on modifications for non-accessible homes. I'm your host, Sarah Pruett. I'm excited to educate you about ways current homes across the USA can be modified to increase accessibility for those that live or visit there. I'm glad you're here and I hope you learn something new.
Hey there! I'm Sarah and I'm an occupational therapist and the program director at The Universal Design Project. At our organization, we have a vision for every community across the USA to have more universally and financially accessible homes in the current housing stock. Our focus is mainly on having new homes built and designed with accessibility features from the start.
But we realize that there are a lot of homes currently in our neighborhoods and communities that still need to be accessible for those who live there. Not everyone can just up and build a new home. We are creating this educational content to arm you with information to help you make informed decisions and show you the reality of what needs to be modified to truly make a home safer and functional in our current housing stock in the US.
This perspective I'm sharing may be new to you. As you drive around your own towns and communities, it's easy to look at the current housing options and to get comfortable with how things are always built. Depending on where you live in the country, your community may have a lot of big historic homes, smaller town-homes, high-density neighborhoods with multi-level homes, single-family homes, and neighborhoods that are split-level or multi-story, whatever the style, we all get used to seeing these and don't often consider how people might move in these homes if a disability is present.
Of course, we don't want to experience adverse circumstances, but our homes just aren't ready for the unexpected. People who experience a health changing event are often shocked by this experience. They're figuring out how to manage medical bills and on top of that, have more decisions to make as they realize their current home, maybe some of the styles that I listed, isn't fit for their new needs.
As an occupational therapist, I know that when people aren't able to participate in the tasks they once were able to do because of stairs, tight spaces, and things being out of reach, it causes a lot of mental and physical pain and frustration. But there is a solution. And by knowing what features in the home are important to modify, you can help increase the quality of life of yourself, a friend, a family member, or a client. And that is empowering.
I know there may be a variety of people listening today coming from different perspectives and I am thankful that you're watching. The information I will guide you through will be beneficial in many ways. Maybe you're a healthcare student or licensed professional, like a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a physician, social worker, case manager, a nurse, disability advocate, or working on discharge planning. Or maybe you're in public health and you're interested in home accessibility. You want to learn more to help patients problem solve some solutions to make their homes safer at discharge. I bet I have some folks here who have experienced a life changing event, maybe yourself or a family member or a friend, and you're looking to figure out what you need to do to modify in a home to make things easier for your family.
In addition, I hope there are some students and professional builders and designers also listening in and looking to understand how someone's abilities impact the way they use the home, and how you can help make those physical changes to homes for them. Whatever perspectives you're coming from, you all have one thing in common and that's trying to make spaces fit the needs of people who live in them so they can easily do the things they want and need to do during the day.
So how will this work? I'm going to guide you through each area of the home and show you some images of common American homes in our current housing stock and what it will take to modify them for increased accessibility. Some modifications are fairly simple, while others will take a lot more time and money.
Each area of the home is a lesson and you can easily watch them individually and come back to them or binge watch the entire thing at once if you'd like. I will guide you to check off your progress after each lesson so you don't lose your spot. However, before the grand modification tour, to get some ideas for your specific needs, I'm going to discuss three important variables that are needed when considering the accessibility of a home and how an occupational therapist is especially skilled at guiding you through the process in collaboration with other stakeholders in the design and build professions.
Click ahead and I'll explain more.
Hey there! I'm Sarah and I'm an occupational therapist and the program director at The Universal Design Project. At our organization, we have a vision for every community across the USA to have more universally and financially accessible homes in the current housing stock. Our focus is mainly on having new homes built and designed with accessibility features from the start.
But we realize that there are a lot of homes currently in our neighborhoods and communities that still need to be accessible for those who live there. Not everyone can just up and build a new home. We are creating this educational content to arm you with information to help you make informed decisions and show you the reality of what needs to be modified to truly make a home safer and functional in our current housing stock in the US.
This perspective I'm sharing may be new to you. As you drive around your own towns and communities, it's easy to look at the current housing options and to get comfortable with how things are always built. Depending on where you live in the country, your community may have a lot of big historic homes, smaller town-homes, high-density neighborhoods with multi-level homes, single-family homes, and neighborhoods that are split-level or multi-story, whatever the style, we all get used to seeing these and don't often consider how people might move in these homes if a disability is present.
Of course, we don't want to experience adverse circumstances, but our homes just aren't ready for the unexpected. People who experience a health changing event are often shocked by this experience. They're figuring out how to manage medical bills and on top of that, have more decisions to make as they realize their current home, maybe some of the styles that I listed, isn't fit for their new needs.
As an occupational therapist, I know that when people aren't able to participate in the tasks they once were able to do because of stairs, tight spaces, and things being out of reach, it causes a lot of mental and physical pain and frustration. But there is a solution. And by knowing what features in the home are important to modify, you can help increase the quality of life of yourself, a friend, a family member, or a client. And that is empowering.
I know there may be a variety of people listening today coming from different perspectives and I am thankful that you're watching. The information I will guide you through will be beneficial in many ways. Maybe you're a healthcare student or licensed professional, like a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a physician, social worker, case manager, a nurse, disability advocate, or working on discharge planning. Or maybe you're in public health and you're interested in home accessibility. You want to learn more to help patients problem solve some solutions to make their homes safer at discharge. I bet I have some folks here who have experienced a life changing event, maybe yourself or a family member or a friend, and you're looking to figure out what you need to do to modify in a home to make things easier for your family.
In addition, I hope there are some students and professional builders and designers also listening in and looking to understand how someone's abilities impact the way they use the home, and how you can help make those physical changes to homes for them. Whatever perspectives you're coming from, you all have one thing in common and that's trying to make spaces fit the needs of people who live in them so they can easily do the things they want and need to do during the day.
So how will this work? I'm going to guide you through each area of the home and show you some images of common American homes in our current housing stock and what it will take to modify them for increased accessibility. Some modifications are fairly simple, while others will take a lot more time and money.
Each area of the home is a lesson and you can easily watch them individually and come back to them or binge watch the entire thing at once if you'd like. I will guide you to check off your progress after each lesson so you don't lose your spot. However, before the grand modification tour, to get some ideas for your specific needs, I'm going to discuss three important variables that are needed when considering the accessibility of a home and how an occupational therapist is especially skilled at guiding you through the process in collaboration with other stakeholders in the design and build professions.
Click ahead and I'll explain more.